Thursday to Saturday

Thursday - Swim lesson;  Since masters swim was cancelled this week I scheduled a swim lesson with Heather.  Here are her notes:

Goal:

Long arm on top of the water

Body position

Press down with chest

Drills:

Single switch (for body position - hand long and on top of water)

Catch up drill

Low stroke Count 

Here is video of catch up drill:

Thursday:  Physical therapy;  had session with Liam; she said basically the same thing that Tony said:  my knee soreness is a strain of the vertisuss muscle;  did some stretching exercises; 

Ran home from therapist:   28 minutes;  2.6 miles  knee was mildly sore, but not in a way that impeded running, at least at a slow pace;
Friday:  spin class w/ Heather - 60 minutes;

Saturday:  BRICK

Did 75 minutes in computrainer workout - Canadian Ironman;   avg watts: 175;  avg mph:  16.8; 

Ran outside:  31 minutes;  both vertissus muscles were sore, but I ran through it and they didn't get worse. The pain is very mild at least at the 9:30 to 10:00 pace that I was running at.  After workout I iced them and tool alleve.  They are not terribly sore.  

Computrainer Workout

We did the same workout as Monday.  Riding today were Mark, Amy, Elizabeth, Mo and me.  I did about the same workout level, although I might have been a little stronger on the 30 minute all out segment. Most of time I was at something over 425.  My maximum heart rate was 154 and I averaged about 180 watts. Traveled 22 miles. Average heart rate was 119, but I didn't shut off the monitor right away so that's probably low.  Good workout. 80 minutes.

Tuesday - Swim workout with video

Tuesday - Masters Swim:  No official masters class for next two weeks. I showed up and was working on my own when Heather came in to give a swim lesson to the other Heather. She videod me:

She pointed out, and it's pretty clear from video that I need to hold my glide longer before beginning the pull. Also I can see from the video that my kicking is weak. I'm not too please with body position either. But she said I am showing improvement.  The video really helps me to see what I'm not doing right. 

Thursday to Monday

Thursday - Masters swim; Joe's 12 days of Christmas workout;  approximately 2000 yards;

Friday - went to spinning class but no Heather no class. I spun by myself for 40 minutes; 

Saturday - CT workout;  rode different courses - 80 minutes;

Sunday - Christmas - day off;

Monday - got up for CT workout at 5:45.  Craig and Amy only ones there.  We did 10 minutes of warmup and then mainset was 5 x  2minutes at zone 2 / 2 minutes at zone 3/ 2 minutes at zone 4 / recover

and then 5 x 1 minute at zone 2 / 1 minutes at zone 3 / 30 seconds all out;  90 seconds recover; 

Got my power up to 430 to 450 on the 30 second all out. 

Total time:  80  avg heart rate  114  maxium 147;  averaged 180 watts;  rode 22 miles;

Sunday - Wednesday

Sunday - played basketball; there were only 8 of us and so I had to play even though my knee was sore. It really made it difficult at first to run up and down the court, which is usually the one thing I'm still good at. But eventually I got so I could ignore the pain, or maybe it dissipated.  Had a decent game - made some corner jumpshots and got some easy layins by running the court.  We lost both games, though.

Time:  90 minutes

Monday - CT trainer; only Amy and Scott with Craig today. rode various courses; 

Time:  90 minutes

Tuesday - Masters swim: 

Warm up :  250 yards

1st set:  10 50s at variable speeds, but since I was swimming with Eric and Mark K. I just tried to keep up and out of their way;   500 yards

2nd set:  200, 150, 100, 50  - pull buoy with paddles
              200, 150, 100, 50   - pull buoy w/o paddles
              200, 150, 100, 50  - swim
1500 yards

Total yards:  2,250 

Wednesday:  CT workout;   

totals:  75 minutes;  avg hr: 122  max hr:  151;   avg watts:  170;    avg speed:  16.0 

15 minute warmup;   5 minutes at zone 4
                                5 minutes at zone 2

6 x 2 minutes at zone 6; 3 minute recovery;  max hr:  146, 150,150,147,149,151

I would start out each interval at mid 300s and would fade to mid 200s by end of interval;  according to chart my zone 5B is 266 to 331

15 minutes at zone 3 - my zone 3 is 166to 198;  I finished above 200, but kept myself in high zone 3 for most of interval;

Friday - Saturday

Friday: Nibra workout:  

15 straight leg lifts, 15 squats   x 3
overhead press, pulldown machine, curls  x 3
step up with barbells; overhead press with barbells, step up, curls with barbells
tricep pulldown
some other stuff;

30 minutes;

Saturday:  Computrainer workout

total time:  90 minutes
avg heart rate 121;  max heart rate:  135;

Started out for about 10 miles on Ironman course;  then program swith to trainer mode; did one set of intervals then we switched to another course - a 30 mile route.  I finished about 12 miles of that route average 19.7 mph with avg watts of about 190;          

Masters Swim

Just three of us today:  Scott, Dave and me. 

Warmup:  250 yards
Main set:

400 pull
8 x 50   @ 1:00 - did all but one on interval. 
300 pull
6 x 50   @ 1:00  - all on interval
200 pull
4 x50   @1:00;   did two at 0:55 interval;
100 pull
2 x 50  @ 0:55; 

total yards = 2,250;    good workout;

At the end when I was tired I tried kicking harder and speeding up my rotation;  I actually finished the last 2 50s in under 50 seconds;  endurance is improving; 

Tuesday - Wednesday

Tuesday - Master Swim

Swam with Erica in middle lanes - a break from swimming in the far lane next to the wall. It didn't make me any faster, however.  But chasing Erica probably helped. She has better endurance. I can probably beat her for a given 25, 50 or 100, but she almost always pulls away in the mulitple sets. 

Warmup:  250 yards
First set:  4 x 100 with paddles; we concentrated on right arm for 25, left arm for 25, counted strokes for 25 (I find counting strokes to be difficult; I think I did a length in 18) 25 fast;  = 400

Main set:   300, 200, 200, 100, 100, 100   = 1,000
                         200, 200, 100, 100 =   600     We did all of these sets at a 2:10 interval. 

Total yards =  2,250 yards; 

Tuesday - Bodyshaping

Did the usual routine of cardio / strength / balance exercises with Heather.   Time = 60 minutes

Tuesday - Run on Treadmill

I ran a mile at 10 minute pace on treadmill after workout class and then 20 minutes walking at 3.9 mph with 13 degree incline;  good workout.  Left knee vertissus muscle is puffy and it hurts to run, but I can run; it hurts less with more incline. Doesn't hurt to walk hard at 13 degree incline, but it does hurt to walk on level ground.   This injury concerns me. I don't see a lot of improvement. 



Wednesday:  CT Workout

Full house at 5 am workout:  Mark K., Scott N. Dave S., Mo, Amy, Elizabeth, Michelle; 

amy, elizabeth and I did interval workout; the rest did FTP test; 

10 minutes warmup;

8 x 2 minutes all out with two minute recovery;  My power numbers for these sets probably averaged about 265;  I started out over 300 but drifted down;   My max heart rate for most of the sets was 145 with an average of 131; 

3 x 1 minutes all out with two minute recovery:  closer to 300 for these three sets;  I pushed legs to max - kept up a wattage about 320 for as long as I could but it was dropping fast for those last 15 seconds;  I'm guessing I averaged about 290; 

total workout time:  60 minutes;

FTP Test

We had another FTP test today. I'm sort of bummed with my results. I did the all out 5 minute test with an average wattage of about 230.  Last time it was closer to 265.  For my twenty minute test I averaged 208, versus 230 last time.  My average heart rate for both segments was 151 with a max of 159. 

Perceived level of exertion was at the max. I wonder if there some of it can be due to how the bike is set up.  It was tough workout, regardless of the results. I only had had one CT session between tests.  Legs felt okay.

Long spin

My left knee is still sort - the vertisus muscle. It feels like if I start to run on it, it should loosen up, but I haven't pushed it yet.  I watched the last half hour of the Kona Championships. I'm not sure whether it inspires me or scares me.  When I turned it on they were focused on the old guys - some in their 80s, who were struggling to finish. REally struggling. Like falling down because it's almost midnight and hard to see and they're tired and 80 years old. I bet they didn't look as old when they started the race.  I'm wonder what I will look like at the finish.

It was inspirational to watch the vets with artifical legs finishing. Incredible. The final story was of a woman who was running to finish before the official shutdown at 17 hours. She finished in 17 hours 4 seconds, so won't get a recorded finish. I guess if this were a movie, she would have made it.  It was still pretty emotional to watch.

Did the 90 minute spin class with Heather. Pushed it, but it's not as intense as the computrainer. I hope that next week, I can complete the schedule as scheduled. I think I can work through the nagging little injuries.

Recover Spin

I took an easy spin class today with Heather at 7 am. I was scheduled for outside run, but it is below freezing and I wanted to give my knee muscle more time to recover from the strain, which I think was caused by the stretching that Tony gave me for the flexor problem.  blah. 

Leg feels okay today. Sore, but I think I could run if needed. It doesn't hurt at all to cycle. 

Time:  50 minutes

Master Swim

Today only three guys in Masters.

Warm up = 200 yards

Main set:  6 x 100 pull; 200 free; 4 x 100 pull faster; 200 free;  4 x 100 pull faster; 

I did the first pull set at a 2:00 interval with my average time of about 1:45;  I did the second pull set at a 1:55 interval with an average time of about 1:50;  I did the last pull set at 1:55 interval with an average time of about 1:52;  I did the 200s in about 2:00 pace; 

After swimming I went back to Tony to see if he could help me with the knee soreness. He said it was a tight muscle, vertus something. He worked on it, taped it with that iso tape and told me to use the stick on it twice a day and always before and after running.

If it feels a little better, I will try to do the group run tomorrow morning.

Wednesday - Eye Exam

Ever since Sunday when I got poked in the eye playing basketball I've been having floaters and occasional flashes of light along the left side of my left eye. After looking on the internet and finding that those symptons could mean a detached retina I made an appointment to see Dr. Stein, Suzanne's opthamologist.

He examined both eyes, said by vision was pretty good, and that I had experienced a tear of the vitreous gel away from the retina, not a retinal tear. The floaters won't necessarily go away but I can resume normal activity.  I will check back with him in six weeks.

So at this point, I have a minor eye problem, a chronically sore left foot (on the bottom), a sore groin, and a very sore knee muscle.  Not a good start to the CDA quest. 

Tuesday - Crunch day

This was a tough day and I've run into a bunch of nagging injuries.

Masters swim -
warmup - 200 yards
first set:  4 x 100s:  50 one arm; 50 free;  = 400
Main set:  100s:  25 hard - 75 ez; 50 hard - 50 ez; 75 hard - 50 ez; 100 hard; 100 ez;  3 times  = 1500

total yards = 2,100

Exercise class - 10 am - took Heather's bodyshaping class as it involves strength work and balance and some stretching.    - 60 minutes

Run on treadmill - after Heather's class I ran on treadmill at 9 minute pace. I had been feeling some mild soreness on the muscle above and on the outside of the left knee. About 20 minutes into run it got much sorer and I decided to stop run at 22 minutes and then walk on incline for another 8 minutes for a 30 minute workout. 

Leg was increasingly sore the rest of the day.

First day of Official Training

Started back with the Craig program today.  It's going to be a challenge.  This was a tough opening day, as I finished playing basketball at 9:15 PM on Sunday and then I had to get up at 4:30 this morning to get my bike over to Computrainer facility to ride at 5:15.

I felt pretty good all things considered.  Rode for 80 minutes at an average speed of 17.3 and that included a few minutes while Craig helped me get my bike set up fixed.  Average watts = 186.  I kept up a consistent effort for the whole ride. We did the International course in Columbia, MD.  Finished 22 of the 26 mile course. 

I'm supposed to do a 40 minute run later in the day. We'll see.

I went into see Tony to see if he could give me some help with the groin/hernia concern. He said it was a tight flexor and he worked the muscle and gave me some stretching exercises to do 4 times a day.

Wednesay - Sunday

Wednesday - Did a long run into Wimette and east to Sheridan Road, past the Bahai Temple.  7.52 miles in one hour and six minutes.  Ran at a fairly steady 9 minute pace. 

Thursday - Masters swim class with Joe.  2,000 yards;

Friday - spin class with Heather;  skipped workout with Nibra because of groin /hernia soreness.

Saturday - long spin class with Heather - didn't do the long run before.

Sunday - basketball. Played decent, legs felt okay, hernia not bothering me much. two hours.